Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Duo)

Outstanding application performance thanks to 4GB of RAM and 64-bit Windows; immaculate cabling makes for roomy interior; among the best warranties in the industry.

No 1,600MHz RAM option; inward-facing drive cage is a pain to work with.

The Falcon Northwest Mach V is an expensive, very well-built high-end gaming PC. It features the latest in almost everything, with the top-end performance to match. True snobs will want faster memory, but aside from that, the Mach V gets almost...

Outstanding current-generation gaming and application performance; top-notch build quality; overnight shipping coverage for repairs.

Too many uncertainties make it impossible to evaluate this system for DirectX 10 gaming; $1,000 price premium for aggressive overclocking and overnight shipping might not be worth it to more seasoned users.

This newest Falcon Northwest Mach V isn't shy about its price tag, but it also dominated our gaming tests thanks to two fast ATI 3D cards and an overall top-notch configuration. The current uncertainty regarding next-gen PC gaming is the only issue...

Fastest gaming PC we've ever seen; somewhat less expensive than the competition; quiet; pristine interior.

The overclocking might be a little too aggressive; digital media archivists will want more storage space; Blu-ray costs extra.

Falcon Northwest continues its tradition of building the fastest gaming PCs around. This one comes with Intel's quad-core chip clocked higher than we've ever seen before, and its resulting game performance sets new records. You might want to bolster...

Overclocked Intel Core 2 Duo CPU; overclocked dual-GPU Nvidia video card; typical Falcon attention to detail.

Costs as much as the faster Core 2 Extreme Dell XPS 700; overclocked CPU doesn't deliver as much of a boost as we'd like; relatively small hard drive capacity.

If you want a gaming-oriented Intel Core 2 Duo system and you have to have it right away, the Falcon Northwest Mach V pumps out plenty of frames per second but falls behind the faster Dell XPS 700 in other computing tasks.